Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-11-18
HAND CAR Az, c. P. R.

had been CraNeiltlR sio"it iot d WHoic muir
it had cautiously stumbled over the loosened
fishplates with a monotonous chuggety chug,
chunkety chunk that had long ceased to
awaken any interest, sympathetic or other
wise, in our drowsy minds Finally it stopped
altogether with jerk, as if it had suddenly
but conclusively realized the vanity of any
further effort The astonished cars pulled at
their pins and pounded their buffers as ii in
angry expostulation at this freak of the loco
motive and some of the men offered ener-
getic advice to the Deity as to what ultimate
course to pursue with the management of the
road in general and the long freight links in
particular Cant help it, can't help i'll"
said the brakeman as he came along the top
Of the box car ahead. THE rails have spread,
and it'll be two hours, maybe three, before
we start her up again.
But the time passed, the train still waited
and we began to grumble stoutly, wondering
why, in the name of various places and
things, they chose to daily in such dismal,
godforsaken spot 1t was raining at Rat
Crossing; in fact it had been raining slowly,
steadily, for two days with certain desper-
ate pertinacity. There had been no previous
drought to render such an abundance Of
water desirable; in the country through
which we passed we had noticed no fields IT
parched wheat, no whitening trees, no droop-
ing vegetables, no thirsty cattle, no Travelled
roads on which the dust required laying. On
the contrary, the lakes were all full to over
flowing, the rivers swollen, the -ravines
drowned, the swamps soaked and the tanks
so full that the relief pipes poured forth a
continuous stream Of scattering expostula-
ton.
Notwithstanding this lavish excess of water
the air seemed no fresher than before the
storm, when the thermometer in the caboose
registered 81 dogs on the shady side of the
track. Both front and side doors were wide
open, and some of the boys, in vain en-
deavor to produce passing sensation Of
FRESHNESS, sat down in the semi-fuid puddles,
covered with a film of cinders, and dangled
their legs in the pour outside But to no pur-
pose; the air was dead, the water warm and
we continued to stife and growl.
The view from the car was not interesting
To the left, as far as we could see through the
endless, unfolding curtain of rain, dismal
muskeg swamp stretched away to the south
of the track, broken only by rare clumps Of
ragged samarack. Both slopes Of the bank
were covered by long beds of pink fireweed
varied with patches of soggy pigeon grass
and to the north lay the desolate waste Of
brule through which we had been travelling
for interminable hours Here and there
among the shiny black poles of the burnt
trees little punches of peoples rustled theii
loose leaves with a nervous activity thai
seemed out of place in the dead quiet of then
surroundings, and their silly, feeble futter
ing, like the barking of frightened cur, wa,
80 exasperating that we could scarcely re
frain from throwing stone at the shiverine
things and calling out: "Oh, shut upi"
The underbrush was thin, and the ridge.
Of pink gneiss, banded with black, thrus
their bare, smooth surfaces through tn,
mottled moss like great pockmarket
shoulders of giants protruding from
their tattered shirts; in the guile.
between them the water gurgled dismally
below the tangIe of dead trees, and ran ava,
under glossy pigeon berry leaves, on to which
the grotesque pitcher plants, opening wild,
their lids, poured their surplus water Saw
by the patter of the rain on the car top ant
the pishpishing of the engine blowing of
steam, the silence was absolute and rendered
only more profound by the booming crash O
falling tree. Nothing moved but the Graz,
poplar trees, and once more We marveled a
the recklessness of the men who had built
railroad through the dead, barren wilderness
where there YVES nothing but rock, water an,
burnt timber.
Besides our party of engineers. detailed OF
remeasurement work, there were two stran
gers in the car; they had blank passes fron
the chief and were going west; as they KEEP
to themselves, talking together most of tn
time and not seeming to care for our com
pany, we had paid no especial attention t.
them Every man of US, however, turne,
suddenly as the younger of the two, speaSin,
eacitedly in loud, staggering tone, inten
sihed by strong twang, said to his com
panion:
II tell you, Morton that man Matt Muir
ply was the biggest coward that ever wake,
this earth, now don't you forget it,"
The intonation of the mans voice was 3
vicious, so mean, that we all felt convince,
that the statement was false, and although
utterly ignorant of the facts each of us fel
an instructive desire to contradict him Blu
before anyone could think of what to say
deep voice from the end of the car condense,
cur feelings In the energetic and laconic an
swer;
That's - lie,'
The speaker, Jack Collins, was the quotes
man on the staff and had acquired certai
reputation for minding nobody's business bu
his own Jack was somewhat of an enigm
to us all we did not understand, but we al
liked him, for he had way of doing SINAI
charities and helping the boys in a pinch tina
showed truly good nature and warn
heart What his exact work was non
Of US knew; he had the name of being
good locator and explorer, especially anon
the Older men, with whom he usually assc
ciatsd; his reports never passed throug
our Office, and no complaints were ever mad
about the irregularity of his work; be a
ways went off before office hours with hi
compass and note book, but the men not In
frequently found him lying in a secluded COZ
ner reading or sleeping with his book b
dde him. He was large, powerful fellow
with heavy beard that concealed half hi
face, of which the only remarkable feature
were strong, determined mouth and lonf
slanting black eyes that kept moving slowl
round from left to right and suddenly jumpe
back to their starting point. Sometime
when we pressed him very hard, he told us
story or some adventure which had happene
y him, and it was only then that his eyt
were at rest, void of expression, as if he WEI
reading from some far away book He spoil
slowly, but well, in low, even voice tbs
commanded the attention Of his hearers; "
never Questioned the truth of his stories, an
whenever any statement seemed trifle e.
travagant we acknowledged that it must {
our fault if we could not understand the ci
cums.ances
For moment after his usually emrhati
denial no one spoke; the stranger had rise
at once, but seeing that Jack did not moy
ne sat down again, filed fresh pipe, an
waited Jack was sitting on the floor at Il
end OF the car looking down pensively at Il
revolver that hung from his belt; after
short pause he looked up at the ceiling, ar
In his usual slow way he told us the story
Matt Murphys last work on the road
1t had happened two years before; Murpt
was ehen road master at Campbells Poin
and far from being thought coward, he W,
looked upon as the only man on the line wi
mao pluck enough to run a snow pillow at Il
head Of five engines into choked cut, al
stand firm when every plank fairly quiver'
under the strain. One day, while he w
dozing in his Office, for Matt was lazy VIII.
ne had nothing to do, the door opened Wi
bang, and the operator, in state Of breat
ies excitement, ran into the room.
There's bush fire below the long bridg
Mr Murphy" he called out; "the wind
this way, and the Pacific Emigrant is due
an hour What the devil shall we dor
Matt started in his chair and repeated &